About 30 students, teachers and community members volunteered their hair in the name of cancer research Friday morning at Pima Butte Elementary School.
The donations were part of the school’s “Out of this World” Bald for Bucks and Locks of Love campaigns in conjunction with “caring,” the school’s character trait for February.
This 2nd annual Bald for Bucks promotion encouraged students to raise donated funds by shaving their heads. Pima Butte was able to raise $900 through the program for cancer research.
Student Chance Burback brought in $600 all on his own. “Cancer takes many children’s lives,” he said. “I feel bad for them, and I just want to give back.”
Locks of Love, in its fifth year at Pima Butte, takes students’ ponytails and transforms them into hairpieces for cancer patients.
Stylists from Great Clips, as well as one from Cost Cutters, donated their time to cut hair at the event. Their skills were witnessed by the entire Pima Butte student body.
Each girl must have at least 8-10 inches of hair to donate. The hair is put into a ponytail and cut. The severed hair is placed in a plastic bag and mailed in a padded envelope to Locks of Love, which combines six to10 ponytails to make one hairpiece for a needy child.
Recipients are financially disadvantaged children 18 and younger who have suffered severe scalp burns or endured radiation treatments for cancer; however, the majority of recipients suffer from an autoimmune condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cure. While cancer patients can regrow their hair, alopecia areata victims cannot ever do so.
Pima Butte holds the Locks of Love event once a year in conjunction with its Character Counts program for students. This year’s Locks of Love coordinator was third grade teacher Jamie Mimran.
“This cause is near and dear to our hearts,” said Mimran. “Many of the participants, including myself, have either had a family member or friend fight cancer or have had a medical condition where they lost their hair. This act of kindness is the least we can do, and we are proud and excited to show how much we care.”
To view video highlights, click below:
Photos by Joyce Hollis
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